Why Tampa has so many strip clubs.
shadowcat
Atlanta suburb
We're getting down to the naked truth.
A St. Pete reader asked for our What Are You Wondering series: "Why are there so many strip clubs in the Tampa Bay region?"
Great question. For all the news coverage Tampa Bay gets of its notorious nude scene, we still couldn't find the root of why there are so many here.
So we called Joe Redner, Tampa's strip club king. The 81-year-old takes credit for making the local scene what it is — there are about 40 clubs in the area, half of which are in Tampa.
Flashback: In 1975, Redner was managing a go-go bar called Deep South when he read a newspaper story about Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville, in which the Supreme Court decided nudity was protected by the first amendment.
That's when he decided to open the city's first all-nude club, Tanga Lounge.
"I tried to get people around town that had clubs to go nude. All of them said no, so I started a club with a bondsman who had closed his beer joint. It was a good thing because I really needed the bondsman."
Yes, but: The industry didn't start booming until Redner opened the now "world famous" Mons Venus in 1982.
"It was just crazy. That's when everybody else took notice in Tampa," Redner said.
In 1999, the city responded to the bustling sex-work industry by banning lap dances — waging a war against Redner that he eventually won after about 150 trips to jail (by his count).
But, but, but: Tampa's strip club history goes further back than Redner.
Tampa History Center historian Brad Massey tells Axios that Redner is indeed the reason Tampa has so many nude clubs. But our reputation for sex work actually started during WWII, when the industry formed around three airfields: MacDill, Henderson and Drew Park.
During the war, so many sex workers were getting arrested that jail became known as the "women's stockade."
What he's saying: Morality is never policed in Tampa for long, Massey says.
"Tampa isn't an immoral place, but an amoral place. People are concerned about making a buck, turning a profit. You don't really have the dignity police like you do in other places. So that's why strip clubs were able to thrive."
Redner's bottom line: "Strip clubs have been here, just always. As long as there's men lusting for women and women lusting for men, there's strip clubs. You can blame that on God."
A St. Pete reader asked for our What Are You Wondering series: "Why are there so many strip clubs in the Tampa Bay region?"
Great question. For all the news coverage Tampa Bay gets of its notorious nude scene, we still couldn't find the root of why there are so many here.
So we called Joe Redner, Tampa's strip club king. The 81-year-old takes credit for making the local scene what it is — there are about 40 clubs in the area, half of which are in Tampa.
Flashback: In 1975, Redner was managing a go-go bar called Deep South when he read a newspaper story about Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville, in which the Supreme Court decided nudity was protected by the first amendment.
That's when he decided to open the city's first all-nude club, Tanga Lounge.
"I tried to get people around town that had clubs to go nude. All of them said no, so I started a club with a bondsman who had closed his beer joint. It was a good thing because I really needed the bondsman."
Yes, but: The industry didn't start booming until Redner opened the now "world famous" Mons Venus in 1982.
"It was just crazy. That's when everybody else took notice in Tampa," Redner said.
In 1999, the city responded to the bustling sex-work industry by banning lap dances — waging a war against Redner that he eventually won after about 150 trips to jail (by his count).
But, but, but: Tampa's strip club history goes further back than Redner.
Tampa History Center historian Brad Massey tells Axios that Redner is indeed the reason Tampa has so many nude clubs. But our reputation for sex work actually started during WWII, when the industry formed around three airfields: MacDill, Henderson and Drew Park.
During the war, so many sex workers were getting arrested that jail became known as the "women's stockade."
What he's saying: Morality is never policed in Tampa for long, Massey says.
"Tampa isn't an immoral place, but an amoral place. People are concerned about making a buck, turning a profit. You don't really have the dignity police like you do in other places. So that's why strip clubs were able to thrive."
Redner's bottom line: "Strip clubs have been here, just always. As long as there's men lusting for women and women lusting for men, there's strip clubs. You can blame that on God."
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14 comments
The combination of a lot of young people and a lot of retirees is ideal for strip club clientele.
It’s been called the “Out Coast” or “Tampa Gay”
It just seems to be an area not too hung up about sexuality
Per what was said in the OP, I would assume the Tampa area has so many clubs b/c of Redner - not only did he show how profitable a good club could be; but he was willing to take on the powers-to-be to create the type of club he wanted.
The Tampa area has someone the highest mileage clubs I've ever been to and a club in Tampa is where I learned that I didn't have to sit on my hands during a dance like I did at home in San Diego.
Although that said many of the SD clubs do suck badly for mileage.
But really, looking at the club listings I count 26 in Hillsborough County.
In Multnomah County, Oregon (i.e. Portland area) that are pretty close to 40 +/- a few listed as "lingerie modeling studios" (i.e. lapdance only).